August 31, 2024 • 21 mins
Ever wondered how a small volunteer fire department can transform into a thriving Emergency Services District? Join us as we sit down with former Fire Chief Ron Moellenberg, who has been a cornerstone of the Pflugerville Fire Department since 1977. From the earnest beginnings of bake sales and street dances to the landmark formation of the Rural Fire Prevention District in 1985, Chief Moellenberg shares riveting stories that highlight the department's evolution and the community's unwavering support. Gain unique insights into the grit and camaraderie that helped shape the department into the professional entity it is today.
Through Chief Moellenberg's captivating anecdotes, we explore the challenges and triumphs that came with limited resources and the pre-911 era, emphasizing a time when community self-reliance was paramount. As the department grew alongside the city, adapting to its changing needs, the shared dedication of the volunteers became the bedrock of its success. Listen in as we also discuss contemporary issues, such as the potential impacts of repealing sales tax on the department's capacity to serve. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to the resilience and commitment of the Pflugerville Fire Department and its enduring significance to the community.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Fox alarm in ESD 2 Fox.
Ron Moellenberg (00:08):
The Pflugerville Fire Department
represents the core and theheart of the city of
Pflugerville and better thanthat, the community of
Pflugerville, which goes beyondthat.
The Fire Department has workedhard over many decades to
conserve this community with avery high level of commitment,
(00:31):
service and capability.
And to take away from thedepartment, to defund it at this
point, will set it back.
The voters need to understandthat money.
The voters need to understandthat money.
Their demand for that moneywill immediately be placed upon
the city of Pflugerville.
They want that money and thereare city fathers that are saying
(00:55):
, when we get that money, thisis what we're going to do.
I promise you it will not bespent on emergency services.
Chris Wolff (01:07):
Welcome to Pflugerville on Fire.
I'm, your host Chris Wolff,.
Today it was my privilege tointerview Ron
Moellenberg .
He's the former chief of thefire department.
He was raised in Pflugerville.
He's an army veteran and formercity council member.
He joined the fire departmentin 1976 and and in this episode
we're going to talk about thehistory of the department and
its relationship to a ruralfarming community that was
(01:30):
Pflugerville before theincorporation of the city.
We'll talk about how thedepartment came to provide EMS
service, and Chief will talk tous about how the repeal of sales
tax will impact the departmentthat he served for more than 40
years.
All right, so no podcast aboutthe Pflugerville Fire Department
(01:50):
would be complete without aninterview from you Ron
Moellenberg Mullenberg.
You were the chief of thedepartment since the 1970s, is
that right?
well, I was in the departmentsince the 1970s, so late 70s,
you know, early 80s, when Ifinally became chief.
Oh, okay, seemed like foreverfor me.
(02:11):
Right, but who knew you would goon to be the chief for the next
three decades?
Yeah, that's amazing.
So, chief, tell us a little bitabout what was the Pflugerville
Fire Department like when youjoined as a volunteer.
Ron Moellenberg (02:28):
Well, the volunteer fire department was a
collection and at that time, allmen of the community and you
know, we got together becausethere was felt to be a higher
calling to serve the community,neighbors and friends.
It was also a place to gettogether, you know, and have
(02:50):
fellowship.
You know we didn't have iPhonesand texting, so there was more
human contact, if you will, andthat was one way that we did it,
so we would get together andtake care of business and then
socialize for a while in theevening.
Sounds fun, it was.
Chris Wolff (03:12):
It really was.
What kind of equipment did youhave?
What kind of training were youguys doing?
Ron Moellenberg (03:18):
Well, training was very rudimentary, In fact.
I remember a couple of usyounger guys decided that we
wanted more training because weneeded to learn more about the
equipment we were using andmodern firefighting, if you will
.
So we would go to.
A&m to the fire school andbring back the skills that we
(03:41):
learned and share them with therest of the fellows in the
department.
Our equipment at that time wasvery rudimentary and by today's
standards would be almostlaughable.
We had what would be classifiedas a couple of booster trucks.
(04:02):
You know they classified as acouple of booster trucks Pumping
250 gallons a minute would bethe extreme that they were
capable of.
That'd be big water for them.
That was big water.
We never really attempted toflow big water because water
supply was also a big problem.
We had one 2,000 gallon tankerthat was probably thought to
(04:27):
have.
Something like that came fromthe big fire in 71.
Chris Wolff (04:32):
And to put it in perspective for our listeners
our new Ferraras have 2,000gallon per minute pumps on them.
Ron Moellenberg (04:39):
So that tells you the difference how far we've
come.
Yeah, you know, we were doingthe best we can training
in-house, but not much in theway of technique and knowledge
about fire science.
So it was kind of a learn asyou go, not as we went along,
(05:01):
Kind of the wild west it was.
Chris Wolff (05:05):
So I want to ask you if you could describe how
did the fire department grow upalongside with the city?
And I'll say, like a lot of thevolunteers have streets and
neighborhoods named after themtoday.
What was that like the next 30years?
Ron Moellenberg (05:21):
Well, growth out here I felt at the time and
of course I got a lot youngerand more impatient was slow to
come Pflugerville as a communityactually the philosophy of
community was much larger thanit was today.
I grew up over, off of HowardLane, which we don't even really
(05:44):
think much of it as beingPflugerville per se, especially
Howard Lane toward McNeil.
But as Austin was growing andexpanding, people were wanting
to as they do today, want to getaway from the center of the
community and they were movingout into the country and they
(06:04):
were beginning to find thatthere were lots to develop and
houses that they could build,and so people began coming in
this direction and that's how westarted growing.
You know, the joke was thatsomebody turned off a 35 one day
and found that there was thisquaint community and so they
(06:27):
wanted to.
Chris Wolff (06:27):
That's how I found it Exactly.
Ron Moellenberg (06:32):
And that changed the demand on the fire
department, because, asvolunteers, not only did we have
to train, keep the equipment up, respond to in those days what
seemed like a street dances,anything we could think of to
help pay the bills.
And you know, fortunately.
(07:05):
You know we used to fuel rightacross from where the main
station is now, where the bigTexaco is.
That was a local servicestation.
We ran a fuel bill there andthere was a time when we
couldn't even pay our fuel bill.
Wow, just to keep the trucksrunning.
Just to keep the trucks running.
Chris Wolff (07:21):
Wow, and so that kind of segments into staying
with that same question, becauseyou guys were a rural.
Today the department is an ESDEmergency Services District and
then, prior to that, it was likea rural fire district.
Is that right?
Ron Moellenberg (07:38):
Well, in I think 1985, we realized that
there was an opportunity understate law to form a rural fire
prevention district and in thosedays, and even up until the
demise of all the RFPDs, thetaxing rate limit was three
cents per 100.
(07:59):
And that turned out to be bigmoney by comparison to the bake
sales.
The street dances yeah, one ofthe last street dances that we
did I was the chairman of thecommittee we netted $89.
We did, I was the chairman ofthe committee, we netted $89.
(08:21):
And I said the next year I wasgoing to just write a check and
I'd go to the football game.
But the opportunity to become aRural Fire Prevention District
really was a changing point forthe department with respect to
modernization.
We actually were able, in thatfirst funding, to buy bunker
gear set for each firefighterWow.
(08:43):
And we were able to put radiosin the trucks Wow.
We began to talk about trainingsome of our people to be EMS
first responders.
So I would think that we couldalmost point to that as being a
pivot point for the departmentto change directions.
Chris Wolff (09:03):
And this is a great topic.
So if you were living out herein the part of the district that
is a neighborhood now, it wasprobably very rural in the
mid-80s and you fell off theroof and broke a leg or
shattered a pelvis, what wasgoing to happen?
Ron Moellenberg (09:19):
Well, you see, it wasn't until the late 80s
even that we had 911 systems.
So you would dial the localfire department or you would
dial an ambulance service Wow.
And then you would wait for itto arrive and in those days most
people would take care ofbusiness themselves, load up,
(09:40):
load up and go find a hospital.
So things were changing and, asyou pointed out, it was rural
open area.
Chris Wolff (09:50):
You know people, you know, did as they did in the
old days, they managed.
I'm kind of a nostalgic person.
I love old Pflugerville, eventhough I'm a new resident.
We have Station 7, which you'revery familiar with out there at
the training field, and if youget a call out at Station 7,
(10:11):
something has gone wrong,because those people do not call
911 unless it's going down hasgone wrong because those people
do not call 911 unless it'sgoing down.
Ron Moellenberg (10:21):
Well, and that's that you know, typical
way, this community Out of seven, you're still dealing with some
of the old original settlers,if you will, of the community
and they just take care ofbusiness.
Chris Wolff (10:29):
Yeah, that's great.
So can you talk about?
How did the city and the firedepartment come to grow apart
then?
Ron Moellenberg (10:40):
Well, I don't know that there was ever a close
partnership between the cityand the fire department.
Understand that the firedepartment predates the city of
Pflugerville.
I think a minute ago Imentioned about how large the
Pflugerville community wasbefore there was a city and in
(11:02):
fact I don't think the city ofPflugerville incorporated until
1968.
So there was no formalgovernment as such until that
year.
And being a young city withacquiring a bunch of problems
water distribution, streetrepair and everything that goes
with it they didn't have, or thecity fathers of that time did
(11:27):
not have the resources to worrywith the fire department.
I think they were just gratefulthat we got the job done
without calling upon them forhelp.
Right, and in fact, at onepoint in those early years the
main water well for Pflugervillecollapsed and there was
(11:48):
literally literally no water inthe community.
Oh my gosh.
And I went to Clarence Bowles,the mayor at that time, and I
suggested to Clarence that westart running a water shuttle
from up on I-35 in PamelaHeights near.
Flasher Lane from a city ofAustin, water hydrant and
shuttle water to the main watertower in Pflugerville.
(12:10):
Wow, and we started doing thatand we ran it around the clock.
Of course you can imagine 2,000gallons of water At a time.
Oh my, yes, but it was a direemergency and you know there was
no thought, no question ofreimbursement from the city or
anybody else, it was just thatwe had to do it Right.
(12:31):
And so to claim that there wasa close partnership, I think
that's an exaggeration and youknow I've had many conversations
with the city fathers and I waseven once a city councilman
here and there was really noimpetus to put the two together
(12:51):
because of the demand onresources that the city had to
meet and the fire departmenttrying to maintain itself.
And, mind you, that was at thetime the department's demand, or
demand for department serviceswas growing.
Chris Wolff (13:08):
Right.
So a lot of people will say,hey, they're not even the
Pflugerville Fire Department,and that's why I have to remind
people is the Pflugerville FireDepartment predates the city of
Pflugerville.
Ron Moellenberg (13:17):
Oh, exactly, and I think, if anything, the
Pflugerville Fire Departmentrepresents the core and the
heart of the city ofPflugerville, the core and the
heart of the city ofPflugerville and, better than
that, the community ofPflugerville, which goes beyond
that.
I mean, look at, we call itPflugerville ISD, and so the
(13:40):
analogy is there.
Pflugerville is bigger thanwhat the city fathers would want
to say grace over today,correct?
Chris Wolff (13:50):
Yeah, that's interesting.
So basically you're saying thecommunity of Pflugerville is a
lot bigger than the city limits.
Ron Moellenberg (13:58):
Oh, yes, without a doubt.
And I mean you can go talk topeople all around the city of
Pflugerville.
They have no regard for thecity limits, they're
Pflugervillians.
Right, my kids go toPflugerville school.
Right for the city of Lemus.
They're Pflugervillians, mykids go to Pflugerville school,
right?
Chris Wolff (14:12):
So I'm a Pflugervillian, right.
I promised our listeners thatwe would keep this to about 20
minutes and we're doing reallywell.
I'd like to kind of transitionfrom everything that you've seen
and all your experience andeverything you've dedicated to
the fire department being thechief of it.
What do you see the futurelooking like for the
Pflugerville Fire Department?
Ron Moellenberg (14:36):
Well, I think it's going to be a difficult
future.
We're obviously facing toughtimes now.
The city fathers some of thecity fathers are motivated by
things that I don't think are inthe spirit of community.
They of course are focused onrapid growth, big development,
(15:00):
and a lot of the efforts thatare being driven here are not in
the favor of what I think thePflugerville spirit.
So I see difficult times.
The fire department has workedhard over many decades to
conserve this community with avery high level of commitment,
(15:21):
service and capability, and totake away from the department,
to defund it at this point, willset it back, and I understand
the bad feelings over EMSservice right now.
Flickerville Fire Departmentper se would not have been
(15:41):
involved in EMS had it not beenfor an acute demand for their
service.
It not been for an acute demandfor their service.
When we began transitioningtoward EMS service there was one
Austin ambulance out here andthe Austin-Travis County EMS
system is city-centric and Iwould watch that ambulance make
(16:05):
the first collision at 8 o'clockin the morning and we wouldn't
see it for the rest of the daybecause it would just get sucked
down.
The higher priority was to thepopulation density in the city
of austin.
That's why we began trainingour first responders to be emts,
and then we grew to the needfor paramedics because we didn't
(16:29):
have advanced life support onthe street in this city.
We moved toward one ambulanceto supplement by then the two
ambulances that Austin had outhere.
Again they were gone.
Our one ambulance would go toAustin and come back, and then
the two ambulances for Austindisappeared off the scene for
(16:51):
service out here, and so we hadto step in the breach and fill
that breach.
Chris Wolff (16:57):
But the whole time committed to high quality
service, that was mark one forme and all of the fire
department Now, Chief, I heardyou ran those two Austin Travis
Academy ambulances out of thecity.
You didn't even want them inhere.
Ron Moellenberg (17:13):
I begged them to stay, because what happened
when the doors got pulled downon those two units?
I was left in a lurch,literally like the little boy
with the finger in his hole inthe dike.
It was maddening Many, manysleepless nights about how to
(17:33):
fill the gap, how to step up andbring people up to the level of
training that I would trustthem with my mother or your
mother, right.
Chris Wolff (17:43):
So people talk about, you know, the defunding
or the repealing of the salestax and they say, hey, you know,
you guys are supposed toprovide EMS.
You're not doing it.
We want a refund on that money.
What would you say to them?
Ron Moellenberg (17:58):
Well, we acquired the service.
We were not mandated to acquirethat service.
Our charge was not that.
But we did step in the breachand to say that the taxpayers
are due that money back.
Well, that means the servicegoes away and somebody's going
to pay that bill.
And to use a private service,you know, I'd be preaching to
(18:23):
the choir if I talked about thequality of that service compared
to those firefighters in thesefire stations that do what they
do every day, absolutely, andunder strict supervision and
strict quality control.
That is non-existent in theprivate system.
Remember, private systems arefor profit.
(18:44):
There's one other thing,Chris to think about.
So if this group that wants todefund the fire department by
taking away sales tax, thevoters need to understand that
money.
Their demand for that moneywill immediately be placed upon
the city of Pflugerville.
They want that money and theyare city fathers that are saying
(19:08):
when we get that money, this iswhat we're going to do.
I promise you it will not bespent on emergency services.
Chris Wolff (19:17):
And that's rough, for I mean you still have loved
ones in this community.
You know, most of my loved onesare in this community, like we
keep saying we deserve better.
Ron Moellenberg (19:27):
Yes, the people in this community deserve
better.
They have had better and itwill be a travesty when they
have to depend on a privateservice to come get them.
Chris Wolff (19:41):
Well, chief, it's an honor to have you on the show
.
Thank you so much foreverything you did.
You were the chief when I cameon the department and I was
saying that my mom was veryimpressed at your speech during
our pinning ceremony.
So thanks so much for coming on.
Ron Moellenberg (19:57):
It's been my pleasure and I hope that the
city of Pflugerville and thefire department can figure this
partnership thing out and makeit work in the right way, right
All right, thank you.
Chris Wolff (20:11):
Thanks for tuning in.
We're striving to gain anunderstanding about the sales
tax repeal and we received somegreat historical context of
where it all began.
We're looking forward to airingmore episodes to provide
context and clarity, and we'vebeen reaching out to leaders on
both sides of the issues.
Tune in for more Pflugervilleon Fire.
Fox alarm in ESD 2 Fox.
Ron Moellenberg (00:08):
The Pflugerville Fire Department
represents the core and theheart of the city of
Pflugerville and better thanthat, the community of
Pflugerville, which goes beyondthat.
The Fire Department has workedhard over many decades to
conserve this community with avery high level of commitment,
(00:31):
service and capability.
And to take away from thedepartment, to defund it at this
point, will set it back.
The voters need to understandthat money.
The voters need to understandthat money.
Their demand for that moneywill immediately be placed upon
the city of Pflugerville.
They want that money and thereare city fathers that are saying
(00:55):
, when we get that money, thisis what we're going to do.
I promise you it will not bespent on emergency services.
Chris Wolff (01:07):
Welcome to Pflugerville on Fire.
I'm, your host Chris Wolff,.
Today it was my privilege tointerview Ron
Moellenberg .
He's the former chief of thefire department.
He was raised in Pflugerville.
He's an army veteran and formercity council member.
He joined the fire departmentin 1976 and and in this episode
we're going to talk about thehistory of the department and
its relationship to a ruralfarming community that was
(01:30):
Pflugerville before theincorporation of the city.
We'll talk about how thedepartment came to provide EMS
service, and Chief will talk tous about how the repeal of sales
tax will impact the departmentthat he served for more than 40
years.
All right, so no podcast aboutthe Pflugerville Fire Department
(01:50):
would be complete without aninterview from you Ron
Moellenberg Mullenberg.
You were the chief of thedepartment since the 1970s, is
that right?
well, I was in the departmentsince the 1970s, so late 70s,
you know, early 80s, when Ifinally became chief.
Oh, okay, seemed like foreverfor me.
(02:11):
Right, but who knew you would goon to be the chief for the next
three decades?
Yeah, that's amazing.
So, chief, tell us a little bitabout what was the Pflugerville
Fire Department like when youjoined as a volunteer.
Ron Moellenberg (02:28):
Well, the volunteer fire department was a
collection and at that time, allmen of the community and you
know, we got together becausethere was felt to be a higher
calling to serve the community,neighbors and friends.
It was also a place to gettogether, you know, and have
(02:50):
fellowship.
You know we didn't have iPhonesand texting, so there was more
human contact, if you will, andthat was one way that we did it,
so we would get together andtake care of business and then
socialize for a while in theevening.
Sounds fun, it was.
Chris Wolff (03:12):
It really was.
What kind of equipment did youhave?
What kind of training were youguys doing?
Ron Moellenberg (03:18):
Well, training was very rudimentary, In fact.
I remember a couple of usyounger guys decided that we
wanted more training because weneeded to learn more about the
equipment we were using andmodern firefighting, if you will
.
So we would go to.
A&m to the fire school andbring back the skills that we
(03:41):
learned and share them with therest of the fellows in the
department.
Our equipment at that time wasvery rudimentary and by today's
standards would be almostlaughable.
We had what would be classifiedas a couple of booster trucks.
(04:02):
You know they classified as acouple of booster trucks Pumping
250 gallons a minute would bethe extreme that they were
capable of.
That'd be big water for them.
That was big water.
We never really attempted toflow big water because water
supply was also a big problem.
We had one 2,000 gallon tankerthat was probably thought to
(04:27):
have.
Something like that came fromthe big fire in 71.
Chris Wolff (04:32):
And to put it in perspective for our listeners
our new Ferraras have 2,000gallon per minute pumps on them.
Ron Moellenberg (04:39):
So that tells you the difference how far we've
come.
Yeah, you know, we were doingthe best we can training
in-house, but not much in theway of technique and knowledge
about fire science.
So it was kind of a learn asyou go, not as we went along,
(05:01):
Kind of the wild west it was.
Chris Wolff (05:05):
So I want to ask you if you could describe how
did the fire department grow upalongside with the city?
And I'll say, like a lot of thevolunteers have streets and
neighborhoods named after themtoday.
What was that like the next 30years?
Ron Moellenberg (05:21):
Well, growth out here I felt at the time and
of course I got a lot youngerand more impatient was slow to
come Pflugerville as a communityactually the philosophy of
community was much larger thanit was today.
I grew up over, off of HowardLane, which we don't even really
(05:44):
think much of it as beingPflugerville per se, especially
Howard Lane toward McNeil.
But as Austin was growing andexpanding, people were wanting
to as they do today, want to getaway from the center of the
community and they were movingout into the country and they
(06:04):
were beginning to find thatthere were lots to develop and
houses that they could build,and so people began coming in
this direction and that's how westarted growing.
You know, the joke was thatsomebody turned off a 35 one day
and found that there was thisquaint community and so they
(06:27):
wanted to.
Chris Wolff (06:27):
That's how I found it Exactly.
Ron Moellenberg (06:32):
And that changed the demand on the fire
department, because, asvolunteers, not only did we have
to train, keep the equipment up, respond to in those days what
seemed like a street dances,anything we could think of to
help pay the bills.
And you know, fortunately.
(07:05):
You know we used to fuel rightacross from where the main
station is now, where the bigTexaco is.
That was a local servicestation.
We ran a fuel bill there andthere was a time when we
couldn't even pay our fuel bill.
Wow, just to keep the trucksrunning.
Just to keep the trucks running.
Chris Wolff (07:21):
Wow, and so that kind of segments into staying
with that same question, becauseyou guys were a rural.
Today the department is an ESDEmergency Services District and
then, prior to that, it was likea rural fire district.
Is that right?
Ron Moellenberg (07:38):
Well, in I think 1985, we realized that
there was an opportunity understate law to form a rural fire
prevention district and in thosedays, and even up until the
demise of all the RFPDs, thetaxing rate limit was three
cents per 100.
(07:59):
And that turned out to be bigmoney by comparison to the bake
sales.
The street dances yeah, one ofthe last street dances that we
did I was the chairman of thecommittee we netted $89.
We did, I was the chairman ofthe committee, we netted $89.
(08:21):
And I said the next year I wasgoing to just write a check and
I'd go to the football game.
But the opportunity to become aRural Fire Prevention District
really was a changing point forthe department with respect to
modernization.
We actually were able, in thatfirst funding, to buy bunker
gear set for each firefighterWow.
(08:43):
And we were able to put radiosin the trucks Wow.
We began to talk about trainingsome of our people to be EMS
first responders.
So I would think that we couldalmost point to that as being a
pivot point for the departmentto change directions.
Chris Wolff (09:03):
And this is a great topic.
So if you were living out herein the part of the district that
is a neighborhood now, it wasprobably very rural in the
mid-80s and you fell off theroof and broke a leg or
shattered a pelvis, what wasgoing to happen?
Ron Moellenberg (09:19):
Well, you see, it wasn't until the late 80s
even that we had 911 systems.
So you would dial the localfire department or you would
dial an ambulance service Wow.
And then you would wait for itto arrive and in those days most
people would take care ofbusiness themselves, load up,
(09:40):
load up and go find a hospital.
So things were changing and, asyou pointed out, it was rural
open area.
Chris Wolff (09:50):
You know people, you know, did as they did in the
old days, they managed.
I'm kind of a nostalgic person.
I love old Pflugerville, eventhough I'm a new resident.
We have Station 7, which you'revery familiar with out there at
the training field, and if youget a call out at Station 7,
(10:11):
something has gone wrong,because those people do not call
911 unless it's going down hasgone wrong because those people
do not call 911 unless it'sgoing down.
Ron Moellenberg (10:21):
Well, and that's that you know, typical
way, this community Out of seven, you're still dealing with some
of the old original settlers,if you will, of the community
and they just take care ofbusiness.
Chris Wolff (10:29):
Yeah, that's great.
So can you talk about?
How did the city and the firedepartment come to grow apart
then?
Ron Moellenberg (10:40):
Well, I don't know that there was ever a close
partnership between the cityand the fire department.
Understand that the firedepartment predates the city of
Pflugerville.
I think a minute ago Imentioned about how large the
Pflugerville community wasbefore there was a city and in
(11:02):
fact I don't think the city ofPflugerville incorporated until
1968.
So there was no formalgovernment as such until that
year.
And being a young city withacquiring a bunch of problems
water distribution, streetrepair and everything that goes
with it they didn't have, or thecity fathers of that time did
(11:27):
not have the resources to worrywith the fire department.
I think they were just gratefulthat we got the job done
without calling upon them forhelp.
Right, and in fact, at onepoint in those early years the
main water well for Pflugervillecollapsed and there was
(11:48):
literally literally no water inthe community.
Oh my gosh.
And I went to Clarence Bowles,the mayor at that time, and I
suggested to Clarence that westart running a water shuttle
from up on I-35 in PamelaHeights near.
Flasher Lane from a city ofAustin, water hydrant and
shuttle water to the main watertower in Pflugerville.
(12:10):
Wow, and we started doing thatand we ran it around the clock.
Of course you can imagine 2,000gallons of water At a time.
Oh my, yes, but it was a direemergency and you know there was
no thought, no question ofreimbursement from the city or
anybody else, it was just thatwe had to do it Right.
(12:31):
And so to claim that there wasa close partnership, I think
that's an exaggeration and youknow I've had many conversations
with the city fathers and I waseven once a city councilman
here and there was really noimpetus to put the two together
(12:51):
because of the demand onresources that the city had to
meet and the fire departmenttrying to maintain itself.
And, mind you, that was at thetime the department's demand, or
demand for department serviceswas growing.
Chris Wolff (13:08):
Right.
So a lot of people will say,hey, they're not even the
Pflugerville Fire Department,and that's why I have to remind
people is the Pflugerville FireDepartment predates the city of
Pflugerville.
Ron Moellenberg (13:17):
Oh, exactly, and I think, if anything, the
Pflugerville Fire Departmentrepresents the core and the
heart of the city ofPflugerville, the core and the
heart of the city ofPflugerville and, better than
that, the community ofPflugerville, which goes beyond
that.
I mean, look at, we call itPflugerville ISD, and so the
(13:40):
analogy is there.
Pflugerville is bigger thanwhat the city fathers would want
to say grace over today,correct?
Chris Wolff (13:50):
Yeah, that's interesting.
So basically you're saying thecommunity of Pflugerville is a
lot bigger than the city limits.
Ron Moellenberg (13:58):
Oh, yes, without a doubt.
And I mean you can go talk topeople all around the city of
Pflugerville.
They have no regard for thecity limits, they're
Pflugervillians.
Right, my kids go toPflugerville school.
Right for the city of Lemus.
They're Pflugervillians, mykids go to Pflugerville school,
right?
Chris Wolff (14:12):
So I'm a Pflugervillian, right.
I promised our listeners thatwe would keep this to about 20
minutes and we're doing reallywell.
I'd like to kind of transitionfrom everything that you've seen
and all your experience andeverything you've dedicated to
the fire department being thechief of it.
What do you see the futurelooking like for the
Pflugerville Fire Department?
Ron Moellenberg (14:36):
Well, I think it's going to be a difficult
future.
We're obviously facing toughtimes now.
The city fathers some of thecity fathers are motivated by
things that I don't think are inthe spirit of community.
They of course are focused onrapid growth, big development,
(15:00):
and a lot of the efforts thatare being driven here are not in
the favor of what I think thePflugerville spirit.
So I see difficult times.
The fire department has workedhard over many decades to
conserve this community with avery high level of commitment,
(15:21):
service and capability, and totake away from the department,
to defund it at this point, willset it back, and I understand
the bad feelings over EMSservice right now.
Flickerville Fire Departmentper se would not have been
(15:41):
involved in EMS had it not beenfor an acute demand for their
service.
It not been for an acute demandfor their service.
When we began transitioningtoward EMS service there was one
Austin ambulance out here andthe Austin-Travis County EMS
system is city-centric and Iwould watch that ambulance make
(16:05):
the first collision at 8 o'clockin the morning and we wouldn't
see it for the rest of the daybecause it would just get sucked
down.
The higher priority was to thepopulation density in the city
of austin.
That's why we began trainingour first responders to be emts,
and then we grew to the needfor paramedics because we didn't
(16:29):
have advanced life support onthe street in this city.
We moved toward one ambulanceto supplement by then the two
ambulances that Austin had outhere.
Again they were gone.
Our one ambulance would go toAustin and come back, and then
the two ambulances for Austindisappeared off the scene for
(16:51):
service out here, and so we hadto step in the breach and fill
that breach.
Chris Wolff (16:57):
But the whole time committed to high quality
service, that was mark one forme and all of the fire
department Now, Chief, I heardyou ran those two Austin Travis
Academy ambulances out of thecity.
You didn't even want them inhere.
Ron Moellenberg (17:13):
I begged them to stay, because what happened
when the doors got pulled downon those two units?
I was left in a lurch,literally like the little boy
with the finger in his hole inthe dike.
It was maddening Many, manysleepless nights about how to
(17:33):
fill the gap, how to step up andbring people up to the level of
training that I would trustthem with my mother or your
mother, right.
Chris Wolff (17:43):
So people talk about, you know, the defunding
or the repealing of the salestax and they say, hey, you know,
you guys are supposed toprovide EMS.
You're not doing it.
We want a refund on that money.
What would you say to them?
Ron Moellenberg (17:58):
Well, we acquired the service.
We were not mandated to acquirethat service.
Our charge was not that.
But we did step in the breachand to say that the taxpayers
are due that money back.
Well, that means the servicegoes away and somebody's going
to pay that bill.
And to use a private service,you know, I'd be preaching to
(18:23):
the choir if I talked about thequality of that service compared
to those firefighters in thesefire stations that do what they
do every day, absolutely, andunder strict supervision and
strict quality control.
That is non-existent in theprivate system.
Remember, private systems arefor profit.
(18:44):
There's one other thing,Chris to think about.
So if this group that wants todefund the fire department by
taking away sales tax, thevoters need to understand that
money.
Their demand for that moneywill immediately be placed upon
the city of Pflugerville.
They want that money and theyare city fathers that are saying
(19:08):
when we get that money, this iswhat we're going to do.
I promise you it will not bespent on emergency services.
Chris Wolff (19:17):
And that's rough, for I mean you still have loved
ones in this community.
You know, most of my loved onesare in this community, like we
keep saying we deserve better.
Ron Moellenberg (19:27):
Yes, the people in this community deserve
better.
They have had better and itwill be a travesty when they
have to depend on a privateservice to come get them.
Chris Wolff (19:41):
Well, chief, it's an honor to have you on the show
.
Thank you so much foreverything you did.
You were the chief when I cameon the department and I was
saying that my mom was veryimpressed at your speech during
our pinning ceremony.
So thanks so much for coming on.
Ron Moellenberg (19:57):
It's been my pleasure and I hope that the
city of Pflugerville and thefire department can figure this
partnership thing out and makeit work in the right way, right
All right, thank you.
Chris Wolff (20:11):
Thanks for tuning in.
We're striving to gain anunderstanding about the sales
tax repeal and we received somegreat historical context of
where it all began.
We're looking forward to airingmore episodes to provide
context and clarity, and we'vebeen reaching out to leaders on
both sides of the issues.
Tune in for more Pflugervilleon Fire.
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